Five Happy Christmases
by stefanie437
Summary: Before James and Lily died, they shared five happy Christmases together. Written for anakinslightsaber as part of Tumblr Jily Secret Santa!


**A/N: This was written for a Jily Secret Santa fic exchange on Tumblr! Happy Holidays to my Secret Santa, anakinslightsaber! **

**_Christmas 1976 _**

"Evans?"

Lily looked up from her parchment to see James Potter staring at her. His hands were in his pockets and he was biting his lip nervously.

"Yes?"

"I, um, just talked to MGonagall," he looked down at his feet for a moment, then returned his eyes to her face and held them there. "I thought she was going to give me detention for a month for that incident with Mulciber the other day, but instead she told me she was proud of me. When I asked her why, she told me to ask you. Any idea what she's on about?"

She smiled a little before answering. "I told her that you were only there to try to stop me from hexing Mulciber beyond recognition. I told her that the whole thing was my fault, and that you were trying to stop us from killing each other."

He stared blankly at her for a moment, trying to comprehend what she was saying.

"You..." he shook his head in disbelief, "you covered for me? With McGonagall?"

"Yes. After all, you stood up to Mulciber for me. And not for the first time. You didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did." His eyes bore into hers with such sincerity that her heart melted just a little bit. But she wasn't ready to go there. Not yet.

"You're an impulsive nutter, Potter. You do know that, yeah? A brave and loyal nutter, but a nutter all the same."

A brilliant smile spread across his face at her comment. "I think there was a compliment in there somewhere."

"Don't get used to it."

He smiled again, and an increasingly familiar heat settled in her chest as she smiled back.

"Happy Christmas, Evans."

"Happy Christmas, Potter."

**_Christmas 1977 _**

"Oh, mistletoe. I wonder where that came from?" Lily rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"No idea," James feigned confusion. "I didn't even notice it was there, honestly."

"I can see you hiding your wand behind your back," she giggled and reached out in an effort to grab her boyfriend's wand, but he threw it on Sirius' nearby bed and reached his arms around her waist instead.

"No matter," he whispered in her ear. "We can't let it go to waste, though."

Her lighthearted sigh turned to a deep hum as he kissed the spot just behind her ear. Her spine tingled and heat flushed her neck and cheeks.

"If you insist," she whispered back as her lips met his. He smiled against her lips and wound his arms tighter around her waist. They started moving closer to his bed, and before he knew it, they were carrying on blissfully, closely intertwined.

He knew that his friends would be returning soon and that they really shouldn't get too carried away, but he couldn't help it. Every minute that he wasn't kissing or touching Lily felt like a wasted minute. With every whispered rumor in the corridors, with every mysterious disappearance, with every name read in the Prophet,James grew more and more desperate to keep Lily close. He was consumed with worry for her, his friends, their families...he had refused to go home for Christmas and let her stay in the castle alone. And as he kissed her now, he realized that he never wanted to spend a Christmas away from her, ever.

His heart was racing and his mind was buzzing as he pulled out of the kiss and blurted the words that had been on his tongue for the past three months.

"Lily, will you marry me?"

Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was a mess and she was still trying to catch her breath, but she had never looked so beautiful.

"James, I...are you sure?" she looked at him expectantly.

"You're the one, Lily. I've never doubted that, even for a minute. I know it's fast, but I also know that it's right." He paused for a second to gauge her reaction, and she smiled a little, and he plowed ahead. "We're in the middle of a _war._ I know that no one wants to call it that, but that's what it is. People are dying. Voldemort would love for nothing more than to kill you, and I'd rather die than let that happen, so I'm marked for dead, too. And, you know what? It's not dying that scares me. It's dying without having the privilege of calling you my wife. You're my family now, Lily. And I need that to be official, on paper, as real to everyone else as it is to me."

"Oh, James," Lily sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" She was smiling and maybe crying a little, too as she reached out to touch his face, still poised above hers. "You are such a hopeless romantic." Then she whispered, "Of course I'll marry you." He flew off the bed and pulled the box from the drawer beside his bed, and was back on the bed within seconds. He slid the ring on her finger and kissed her again, his entire body on fire.

"Happy Christmas, Lily."

"Happy Christmas, James."

**_Christmas 1978_**

James peered through the curtains of the cottage in Godric's Hollow and moaned pitifully.

"Come on, Lils," he whined. "It's Christmas Eve! And it's snowing! We need to go get a tree."

"It's too dangerous. I don't want to spend Christmas Eve cleaning us up after a run-in with Bellatrix."

"We'll Apparate somewhere in Ireland. A tree farm I went to once on holiday with my parents. They'll never find us."

He moved closer to Lily, touching her crossed arms gently. "You know you want to," he smiled. "We'll be fine." She shook her head, but he knew he had won. He saw a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, and he kissed her softly.

"Okay, okay. But bring the cloak, just in case."

A few minutes later, they Apparated to a sprawling tree farm, bustling with families and couples. The snow was falling earnestly now, and James was so excited he was practically skipping.

"It's a good thing you're cute, James Potter," Lily joked. "Otherwise I'd never let you have your way."

"That's quite true," he smirked, pulling her behind a shed. "Though I do think you like it when I get my way with you." He kissed her roughly, her face in his hands, her hands in his hair.

"Maybe you have a point," Lily said breathlessly. "We should also probably get a tree before all the good ones are gone."

"Okay, okay," he said, kissing her once more on her nose before pulling away. "Let's find our tree."

As they wandered hand in hand through the lot, Lily couldn't help but wonder what the next year would hold for them. She knew it would be a tough year, but a year filled with love and family and hope.

"Happy Christmas, James."

"Happy Christmas, Lily."

**_Christmas 1979_**

Lily hung another ornament on the tree, and felt her heart flutter nervously at the sound of James making tea in the kitchen. She had been worrying all day, trying to work up the courage to tell him.

_Come on, Lily, she thought. __Are you a Gryffindor or not? _

James joined her then, setting two steaming mugs of tea on the mantle and hugging her tightly from behind.

"The tree looks great," he said happily.

She took a deep breath and turned to face him.

"What's the matter, love?" he questioned when he saw the panicked look on her face.

"I have to tell you something," she started, pulling him toward the sofa. Come sit down."

"What's the matter? Is everyone okay?" he looked so scared, and Lily felt terrible for scaring him, but she was terrified herself.

"Everyone's fine," she said. "It's just...well," she rung her hands nervously.

"What?"

"I...I think I might be pregnant."

"You're...what?"

"Pregnant. You know, with a baby."

"Are you sure?" he was losing color rapidly, and Lily reached out to touch his hand comfortingly.

"No. I have to do a test. But I wanted to wait until I told you."

"But...we're fighting. In a war. Against Voldemort." He put his head in his hands.

"I know," Lily whispered. "I'm so sorry. The potion must have been off. I know this isn't what we wanted. We could take care of it, if we need to." She looked down, heart pounding in her chest.

"What? No." James' head snapped up. "It might not have been our plan right now...and it'll be tricky...but we are not 'taking care of it.'" He looked at her, a fierce look in his eyes. "Planned or not, that's _our baby."_

He took her hands in his and smiled a little. "I never really thought about kids much, to be honest, but now that you're telling me this...I really want it. More than anything."

"I was hoping you'd say that," she said. "But how on earth are we going to do this?"

"Well, we've done okay raising Padfoot, haven't we?" he joked. "We'll figure it out. And we'll have lots of help."

Lily laughed and curled up into James' side, and he slid his arms around her.

"Happy Christmas, James."

"Happy Christmas, Lily."

**_Christmas 1980_**

"Harry, love, that's not food," Lily scooped up the baby from the floor as he tried to stuff the toy reindeer in his mouth. "That's your toy that uncle Sirius bought you."

Harry gurgled happily, stuffing his fist in his mouth instead. Lily carried him closer to the tree, snuggling her nose to his cheek. She delighted in how he cooed in response.

James came in then with a plate of Christmas cookies, which he set on the mantle.

"We're going to leave some cookies for Father Christmas," he said to Harry, reaching for the baby. "And then he'll leave you some lovely presents."

"I can't wait until he's old enough to actually open his own presents," Lily said. "I'm so excited to see how he does next Christmas."

"That does sound fun," James said. Lily could hear the melancholy in his voice and it broke her heart. "I just hope things are a bit calmer by then."

She didn't need to ask what he was referring to.

"Let's not think about that today, James. It's Christmas."

James didn't respond. He held the baby tighter against his chest and rubbed his back as Lily slid her arms around them both. Harry reached out to grab at a shiny red ornament on the tree, and he squealed in delight when he noticed his reflection shining back at him.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," Lily whispered. "Happy Christmas, James."

"Happy Christmas, Lily."


End file.
